Paleodietary analysis of a San Francisco Bay Area shellmound: stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of late Holocene humans from the Ellis Landing site (CA-CCO-295)

The late Holocene archaeofaunal record of the San Francisco Bay Area demonstrates temporal declines in the abundance of low-cost, high-ranked marine and terrestrial resources. During later periods of occupation, faunal assemblages are often dominated by lower-ranked, higher-cost resources, suggesting an increase in diet breadth through time. Archaeological resource intensification models argue that this marks a late Holocene decline in foraging efficiency in the Bay Area, driven by human-induced harvest pressure. This study examines dietary change in the region using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from 65 human burials, spanning two temporal components (cal AD 55–890 and cal AD 762–1550) at the Ellis Landing site (CA-CCO-295). The strong linear relationship between collagen carbon and nitrogen isotope values reflects both marine and terrestrial food consumption, with individuals showing a high level of dietary variability at the site. No temporal trend or meaningful sex differences were found in isotope values. The widening of diet breadth predicted by the archaeofaunal record occurred prior to the occupation of the Ellis Landing shellmound site. The trend in exploiting a greater amount of terrestrial resources during the Middle and Late Period in central California was supported by isotopic evidence.     

Reviews of Books

THOMAS FIGUEIRA. Athens and Aigina in the Age of Imperial Colonization. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 274. $29.95 (US). Reviewed by B. M. Lavelle

JUDITH LIEU, JOHN NORTH, and TESSA RAJAK, eds. The Jews among Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire. London and New York: Routledge, 1992. Pp. xvii, 198. $39.95 (US). Reviewed by James E. Seaver

PAUL RATCHNEVSKY. Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy, trans, and ed. Thomas Nivison Haining. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1992. Pp. xvii, 313. $34.95 (US). Reviewed by Reuven Amitai-Preiss

RODERICH PTAK and DIETMAR ROTHERMUND, eds. Emporia, Commodities, and Entrepreneurs in Asian Maritime Trade, c.1400–1750. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1991. Pp. xi, 509. DM 102.00. Reviewed by Christine Dobbin

BERNARD COTTRET. The Huguenots in England: Immigration and Settlement, c.1550–1700. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 317. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by Andrew Spicer

NICHOLAS B. DIRKS, ed. Colonialism and Culture. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 402. $27.00 (US). Reviewed by Dane Kennedy

JOYCELYNE G. RUSSELL. Diplomats at Work: Three Renaissance Studies. Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton, 1992. Pp. xiii, 190. £28.00. Reviewed by Denys Hay

RICHARD HARDING. Amphibious Warfare in the Eighteenth Century: The British Expedition to the West Indies, 1740–1742. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press (Royal Historical Society), 1991. Pp. x, 248. £35.00; $73.00 (US). Reviewed by Philip Woodfine

BILLIE MELMAN. Women's Orients: English Women and the Middle East, 1718–1918: Sexuality, Religion, and Work. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xix, 417. £45.00. Reviewed by Afaf Lutfi Al Sayyid Marsot

H. V. BOWEN. Revenue and Reform: The Indian Problem in British Politics, 1757–1773. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xi, 204. $47.50 (US). Reviewed by John Derry

PETER D. G. THOMAS. Revolution in America: Britain and the Colonies, 1763–1776. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1992. Pp. x, 101. £5.95. Reviewed by Philip Lawson

STEPHEN HOWARTH. To Shining Sea: A History of the United States Navy, 1775–1991. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1991. Pp. xv, 620. £25.00. Reviewed by William S. Dudley

MIRON REZUN. Intrigue and War in Southwest Asia: The Struggle for Supremacy from Central Asia to Iraq. New York: Praeger, 1992. Pp. xiv, 149. $42.95 (US). Reviewed by M. E. Yapp

GERASIMOS AUGUSTINOS. The Greeks of Asia Minor: Confession, Community, and Ethnicity in the Nineteenth Century. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1992. Pp. x, 270. $39.00 (US). Reviewed by Stanford J. Shaw

JAVED MAJEED. Ungoverned Imaginings: James Mill's The History of British India and Orientalism. New York: The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. 225. $74.50 (CDN). Reviewed by Lynn Zastoupil

MICHAEL PARIS. Winged Warfare: The Literature and Theory of Aerial Warfare in Britain, 1859–1917. Manchester: Manchester University Press; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Pp. 272. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by John Ferris

DAVID EDGERTON. England and the Aeroplane: An Essay on a Militant and Technological Nation. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. xx, 139. £14.99. Reviewed by John Ferris

MAARTEN KUITENBROUWER. The Netherlands and the Rise of Modem Imperialism: Colonies and Foreign Policy, 1870–1902, trans. Hugh Beyer. New York and Oxford: Berg Publishers; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Pp. vii, 407. $71.50 (US). Reviewed by D. K. Fieldhouse

JOHN W. CELL. Hailey: A Study in British Imperialism, 1872–1969. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xv, 332. $47.95 (US). Reviewed by Robin J. Moore

HEINRICH WALLE, ed. Von der Friedenssicherung zur Friedensgestaltung: Deutsche Streitkräfte im Wandel. Herford and Bonn: Verlag E. S. Mittler und Sohn GmbH, 1991. Pp. 398. DM 34.80. Reviewed by Martin Kitchen

CHRISTOPHER J. WALKER, ed. Armenia and Karabagh: The Struggle for Unity. London: Minority Rights Group, 1991. Pp. ix, 162. £7.95. Reviewed by Michael B. Bishku

JOHN B. HATTENDORF, ed. The Influence of History on Mahan. Newport: Naval War College Press, 1991. Pp. vii, 208. NP. Reviewed by Bryan Ranft

RAYMOND F. BETTS. France and Decolonisation, 1900–1960. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. 152. £35.00. Reviewed by William B. Cohen

THOMAS B. STEPHENS. Order and Discipline in China: The Shanghai Mixed Court, 1911–1927. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 159. $40.00 (US). Reviewed by Nicholas R. Clifford

PAUL LATAWSKI, ed. The Reconstruction of Poland, 1914–1923. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xxi, 217. £45.00. Reviewed by Stefania Szlek Miller

JOHN TURNER. British Politics and the Great War: Coalition and Conflict, 1915–1918. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992. Pp. viii, 511. $40.00 (US) Reviewed by Trevor Wilson

PANIKOS PANAYI. The Enemy in Our Midst: Germans in Britain during the First World War. New York and Oxford: Berg Publishers; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 312. $66.50 (US). Reviewed by Trevor Wilson

DAVID M. ANDERSON and DAVID KIIXINGRAY, eds. Policing and Decolonisation: Nationalism, Politics, and the Police, 1917–1965. Manchester: Manchester University Press; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Pp. xi, 227. $69.95 (US). Reviewed by John Flint

DAVID G. WILLIAMSON. The British in Germany, 1918–1930: The Reluctant Occupiers. New York and Oxford: Berg Publishers; dist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Pp. xv, 374. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by John Hiden

JOHN MORISON, ed. Eastern Europe and the West. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xix, 271. £40.00. Reviewed by Kay Lundgreen-Nielsen

MARK MAZOWER. Greece and the Inter-War Economic Crisis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 334. $65.00 (CDN). Reviewed by Dimitri Kitsikis

JONATHAN HASLAM. The Soviet Union and the Threat from the East, 1933–41. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992. Pp. vii, 208. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Paul Dukes

DAVID R. MARPLES. Stalinism in Ukraine in the 1940S. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1992. Pp. xix, 228. $34.95 (CDN). Reviewed by David Saunders

JUDITH A. STOWE. Siam Becomes Thailand: A Story of Intrigue. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 394. $39.00 (US), cloth; $16.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Anthony Short

DAVID DAY. Reluctant Nation: Australia and the Allied Defeat of Japan, 1942–45. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. x, 366. $45.00 (CDN). T. B. Millar

KLEMENS VON KLEMPERER. German Resistance against Hitler: The Search for Allies Abroad, 1938–1945. New York: The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. xvi, 487. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Katharine Sams

SAMUEL W. MITCHAM, JR. and GENE MUELLER. Hitler's Commanders. Lanham, MD: Scarborough House, 1992. Pp. 320. $23.95 (US). Reviewed by L. H. Gann

HARRY A. GAILEY. Bougainville: The Forgotten Campaign, 1943–1943. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1991. Pp. 237. $27.00 (US). Reviewed by Thomas M. Huber

ROY PALMER DOMENICO. Italian Fascists on Trial, 1943–1948. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1992. Pp. xvii, 295, $43.95 (US). Reviewed by Richard Bosworth

GRANT K. GOODMAN, ed. Japanese Cultural Policies in Southeast Asia during World War Two. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. xi, 223. $35.95 (US). Reviewed by Ricardo T. Jose

DONALD R. BAUCOM. The Origins of SDI, 1944–1983. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992. Pp. xix, 276. $29.95 (US). Reviewed by Edward Rhodes

STEIN TØNNESSON. The Vietnamese Revolution 0/1945: Roosevelt, Ho Chi Minh, and De Gaulle in a World at War. London: Sage, 1991. Pp. xiv, 458. $60.00 (US). Reviewed by Ralph Smith

LOWELL DITTMER. Sino-Soviet Normalization and Its International Implications, 1945–1990. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. Pp. viii, 373. $35.00 (US) Reviewed by Dennis J. Dunn

BEATRICE LEUNG. Sino-Vatican Relations: Problems in Conflicting Authority, 1976–1986. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xix, 415. $74.95 (US). Reviewed by Dennis J. Dunn

ROGER BUCKLEY. US-Japan Alliance Diplomacy, 1945–1990. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 225. $49.95 (US). Reviewed by Akira Iriye

JEFFREY GREY. Australian Brass: The Career of Sir Horace Robertson. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xxi, 249. $59.95 (US). Reviewed by G. C. Bolton

SALLIE PISANI. The CIA and the Marshall Plan. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991. Pp. x, 188. $25.00 (US). Reviewed by Lawrence S. Wittner

ANUSON CHINVANNO. Thailand's Policies towards China, 1949–54. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xiv, 200. £40.00. Reviewed by Arlene B. Neher

THOMAS-DURRELL YOUNG. Australian, New Zealand, and United States Security Relations, 1951–1986. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992. Pp. xxii, 284. $35.00 (US). Reviewed by Ann Trotter

THOMAS W. ZEILER. American Trade and Power in the 1960s. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Pp. xiv, 371. $45.00 (US). Reviewed by Philip J. Funigiello

RAMESH THAKUR and CARLYLE A. THAYER. Soviet Relations with India and Vietnam. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. xi, 315. £45.00. Reviewed by Rajan Menon

EFRAIM KARSH. Soviet Policy towards Syria since 1970. London: Macmillan, 1991.Pp.ix, 235. £35.00 Reviewed by Michael Graham Fry, Tamara Bitar

OLES M. SMOLANSKY with BETTIE M. SMOLANSKY. The USSR and Iraq: The Soviet Quest for Influence. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 1991. Pp. xi, 346. $55.00 (US), cloth; $24.95 (US), paper. Reviewed by Michael Graham Fry, Tamara Bitar

JOHN NORTON MOORE, ed. The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Volume IV: The Difficult Search for Peace (1975–1988). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. Part One: Pp. xxvii, 1,066. $99.50 (US); Part Two: Pp. xvii, 1,072–1,960. $99.50 (US). Reviewed by L. Carl Brown

KATHLEEN BURK and ALEC CAIRNCROSS.‘Goodbye, Great Britain’: The 1976 IMF Crisis. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992. Pp. xix, 268. $30.00 (US). Reviewed by John McDermott

RICHARD EDMUND WARD. India's Pro-Arab Policy: A Study in Continuity. New York: Praeger, 1992. Pp. x, 172. $39.95 (US). Reviewed by Anita Inder Singh

MARTIN VAN CREVELD. On Future War. London and New York: Brassey's, 1991. Pp. x, 254. £24.00. Reviewed by Geoffrey Blainey

MURRAY WOLFSON. Essays on the Cold War. London: Macmillan, 1992. Pp. x, 244. £45.00. Reviewed by Dietrich Fischer

ADAM WATSON. The Evolution of International Society. New York: Routledge, 1992. Pp. viii, 337. £14.99. Reviewed by Richard Langhorne     

Starch grain characterization of Prosopis chilensis (Mol.) Stuntz and P. flexuosa DC,and the analysis of their archaeological remains in Andean South America

The fruit (pods) of Prosopis (Fabaceae) are frequently recovered from pre-Hispanic Argentinian archaeological sites, suggesting that this genus was of importance in ancient economies in this region. Yet it is only recently that archaeobotanists have begun to carry out systematic research into this genus. Therefore many questions remain to be addressed concerning the food value of Prosopis fruit, and its potential contribution. This paper examines starch from the pods of two species, Prosopis flexuosa and Prosopis chilensis, for the purposes of describing and classifying their morphological features and biometrical parameters. Pods of both species were gathered from two extremes (northern and southern) of the Hualfín Valley, Catamarca, Argentina. Starch abundance is estimated and compared with that of Zea mays, an economically important plant with high concentrations of starch. This paper reveals that Prosopis pods contain very low amounts of starch compared to starch-rich edible species. Despite this, the recovery of Prosopis starch grains can be successfully used to assess archaeological tool uses. Prosopis starch grains were found to be highly variable in shape. Grain size ranged between 10 and 20 μm. Granule irregularity and the high birefringence under polarized light are two of the most important diagnostic features. No significant statistical differences were found in the structure (morphology, size and hilum) of the starch of the same species from both localities. Finally, the implications for the role of this plant in past societies are discussed.     

Obtaining meaningful informed consent: preliminary results of a study to develop visual informed consent forms with children

This pilot study explores children's understanding of informed consent (IC) and the potential of participatory visual methods for improving the IC process. Strategies used to improve the IC process have generated mixed evidence as to their ability to increase understanding and willingness to participate among potential research participants. Two workshops with 13 children aged 8–12 years were held to discuss the content of IC forms, particularly confidentiality and voluntary participation, and the children took photographs to represent these concepts. Simplified written IC forms generated boredom, disengagement, and/or anxiety for some children. Preliminary results of this pilot study indicate the potential to enhance the IC process by using participatory visual methods with children to make visual IC forms.     

Experimental Dynamic Testing and Numerical Modeling of Historical Belfry

The experimental characterization of historical bell towers and wall belfries can provide important information for the calibration of numerical models as well as to implement proper restoration strategies. Within this framework, the presented study is concerned with the experimental dynamic assessment of an ancient belfry dating back to 1537. The structure is part of the “Santa Maria in Aracoeli Church” (Rome, Italy), an important heritage construction placed on the summit of the Capitoline Hill, close to the building that hosts the Major’s office. Several field tests have been conducted using accelerometers, and records obtained under different dynamic loading scenarios have been examined. Moreover, experimental accelerations have been elaborated to estimate the most important modal features of the structure and to validate a finite element model. Field tests have confirmed that severe vibrations are induced when the bells swing, and thus a slight reduction of the swing angle has been suggested in order to provide an immediate and inexpensive benefit to the structure. A new set of field tests demonstrates that the new swing angle is sufficient to reduce the induced vibrations while preserving the original sound.     

Professor Camillo Negro’s Neuropathological Films

Camillo Negro, Professor in Neurology at the University of Torino, was a pioneer of scientific film. From 1906 to 1908, with the help of his assistant Giuseppe Roasenda and in collaboration with Roberto Omegna, one of the most experienced cinematographers in Italy, he filmed some of his patients for scientific and educational purposes. During the war years, he continued his scientific film project at the Military Hospital in Torino, filming shell-shocked soldiers. In autumn 2011, the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, in partnership with the Faculty of Neurosciences of the University of Torino, presented a new critical edition of the neuropathological films directed by Negro. The Museum’s collection also includes 16 mm footage probably filmed in 1930 by Doctor Fedele Negro, Camillo’s son. One of these films is devoted to celebrating the effects of the so-called “Bulgarian cure” on Parkinson’s disease.